Kindle Library Lending Is Coming to Actual Libraries

Good News Everyone!

Amazon has announced that later this year, Kindle users will be able to borrow e-books from 11,000 participating libraries using its new Library Lending service. This applies to all Kindle services including every generation of Kindle devices and all the platforms offering the Kindle app. Not only that, but Library Lending will also incorporate Whispersync technology, which allows users to take notes in the margins of the books they borrow.

From the press release:

Customers will be able to check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any Kindle device or free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. If a Kindle book is checked out again or that book is purchased from Amazon, all of a customer’s annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

Of course, those notes will not appear when the e-book is borrowed by the next person. No specific details are out yet, such as which libraries will be participating and how long the lending period will be. Gizmodo notes that Amazon’s partner OverDrive “typically has a 14-day window” for its lending services on other platforms and others limit the amount of books being taken out at a time. But this is definitely good news for those of us who use Kindles and are picky about our book purchases. Mostly though, this is great for libraries.